Incomplete inspection reports to UN will be rejected by Syria

Ban Ki-moon

Newscast Media COPENHAGEN—Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Friday his country rejects any partial reports by the UN Secretariat before the completion of the mission of the UN chemical weapons investigation team, state-run SANA news agency reported.

The minister said so during a phone call with UN chief Ban Ki- moon on Friday, a day after the UN said the chemical investigators, currently operative on ground, would leave Syria on Saturday. Syria rejects any partial reports before the completion of the mission and the completion of the laboratorial tests of the samples assembled by the team, al-Moallem said.

According to SANA, the foreign minister asked Ban about the reasons behind the abruptness of the UN team’s mission, urging him to stick to even handedness. He also stressed that any aggression against Syria would “blow up all of the exerted efforts to politically solve the Syrian crisis.”

He further requested that the UN team should also investigate the sites where the government accused the rebels of using nerve agents against troops and civilians. The UN team did not investigate all reported instances of chemical weapons’ use, but its officials promised to return to Syria after submitting the result of their primary investigation.

The investigation team, led by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, has been carrying out its work without incidents after a pause last Tuesday, when its convoy was attacked by snipers while heading to Damascus’ eastern suburb of Ghouta, where chemical weapons were allegedly used on Aug. 21.

The alleged incident opened the appetite of Washington to militarily intervene in Syria to “punish” President Bashar al- Assad even before the submission of the investigation’s results.